Former supermarket supremo Sir Ken Morrison is to become a Freeman of the City.

Quite right, too.

Two fingers to those niggardly councillors who voted against the move, some claiming he had ‘not done much for Bradford’.

Previous recipients of the city’s highest civic accolade have included writer J B Priestley, artist David Hockney and the firebrand Labour politician Barbara Castle, who gave us the breathalyser.

All admirable recipients of high achievement who, in their different ways, helped put Bradford on the map. But none of them built up a national business empire with its roots still firmly in this city which has provided work for thousands – and earned shareholders a pretty penny down the years.

Sir Ken took the cheese stall started in 1899 by his father William and mother Hilda and moved it into realms beyond their imagination. He steadily, but determinedly, led the development of what is now the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket with 40,000 staff and a chain of more than 400 stores.

Sir Ken received his knighthood for services to the retail trade, which is in his blood. He remained a shopkeeper to his fingertips throughout his 55 years with the firm, of which he remains honorary president.

He had a feel for the high street, which included taking the old Morrisons business into self-service in the 1960s at the converted Victoria cinema at Girlington – the springboard for its progress into a national brand.

When it came to building a new head office, Sir Ken insisted it was built in Bradford, on the last piece of flat land inside the city boundary on Gain Lane. As a national business it didn’t need to keep its base in Bradford.

Okay, he’s done very well out of it. He’s now a billionaire gentleman farmer with estates in North Yorkshire – Ken was once heard to remark “the trouble with farming is that it always rains in the wrong field.”

Few people, except the tiny bunch of small-minded councillors, can begrudge him his success. If creating one of the few national businesses still based in this city is not doing enough for Bradford, I can’t think what is.

Sir Ken remains a down-to-earth and modest man, who is proud of his roots. Becoming a Freeman of Bradford will, I’m sure, mean the world to him.

Rather than finding fault, let’s applaud his success and celebrate an outstanding Bradfordian.